Effect of Broilers Fed Diets Containing Different Protein Sources at Starter Phase
I. S. Harande *
Department of Animal Health and Production, College of Agriculture, Zuru, Kebbi State, Nigeria.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Performance of broilers chicken fed diets containing different protein sources were evaluated. One hundred and fifty (150) Ross 308 day-old chicks were shared into 3 experimental treatment groups, and each treatment group was replicated five times, with 10 chicks per replicate. Three treatment diets were prepared as follows: T1 contained GNC as the major protein source, T2 contained SBM as the major protein source, while T3 contained a combination of GNC and SBM as the two major protein sources. The results showed that feed intake was higher (P<0.05) for T2 and T3 compared to T1, even though body weight gain and water intake did not differ significantly between the treatments. The best FCR was obtained for T2 (P<0.05). It is concluded that feeding broilers diets containing either SBM or a combination of GNC & SBM enhanced performance compared to feeding GNC as the major source of protein.
Keywords: Broilers starter, diets, protein sources, performance.